The Tripartite Canon Initiation Protocol 三洞修道仪

Compiled by Sun Yizhong, a Taoist priest in the early Northern Song Dynasty.

In one volume, it is included in the Zhengyi Section of The Daozang.

This work expounds on the hierarchical stages of transmitting Taoist scriptures and talismans, as well as the grades of ritual headgear and robes for Taoist practitioners. A preface written by the author opens the scroll, stating that Taoism declined in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, Taoist priests scattered across the land, and Taoist scriptures and classics were lost and scattered.

Aspiring to reorganize the Taoist scriptures and canonical texts, the author received oral instructions on the initiation rituals into the Dao and the grades of ritual headgear and robes from Liu Ruozhuo, a Taoist priest of Yangtai who was well-versed in the Dharma and teachings; thus he compiled this treatise. The book details the hierarchical ranks and honorific titles that Taoist practitioners receive in sequence when being ordained with scriptures, precepts and talismans, starting from their initiation into the Dao as novices.

For example, boys and girls who renounce secular life to enter the Dao at the age of fifteen or above are titled Disciples of the Ten Wisdom Precepts; those who then receive the Eighty-One Preliminary Perfection Precepts are titled Supreme Lord’s Preliminary Perfection Disciples; those who receive the Zhengyi Alliance of Majestic Authority Talismans are titled Zhengyi Alliance of Majestic Authority Disciples; those who receive the Adamantine Cavern God Talismans are titled Supreme Lord’s Cavern God Dharma Masters; those who receive the Supreme Lord’s High Mystery Talismans are titled either Supreme Lord’s Purple Void High Mystery Disciples or High Mystery Dharma Masters; those who receive the Supreme Lord’s Shengxuan Talismans are titled either Supreme Lord’s Numinous Treasure Shengxuan Inner Teaching Disciples or Shengxuan True Unity Dharma Masters; those who receive the Numinous Treasure Central Oath Talismans are titled either Supreme Lord’s Numinous Treasure Cavern Mystery Disciples or Supreme Cavern Mystery Dharma Masters; those who then receive the Shangqing Great Cavern Scriptures and Talismans are titled Great Cavern Disciples or Cavern Perfection Dharma Masters, among other designations. In addition, there are separate grades including Hermit Taoist Priests of the Mountains, Cavern Abyss Taoist Priests and Grand Mystery Taoist Priests of the Northern Emperor, with a final section dedicated to the ranks of female Taoist officials.

Besides the differences in the conferred talismans and honorific titles, Taoist practitioners of each rank were also bestowed with distinct ritual articles such as headgear and robes, swords and footwear, seals and credentials. The contents recorded in this book are largely consistent with the Sui and Tang Taoist texts such as Model Norms of the Ritual Protocols for Upholding the Dao in the Three Caverns, and its canonical disciplinary system aligns with the ritual tradition preserved in The Dongshen Section of the Taoist canon inherited from the the Tang Dynasty.